Sep
Weekly Wrap-Up::August 30-September 3, 2010
This week at the House of Hope might aptly be called “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” or perhaps “The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat.” This was our fifth week of schooling, so I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. Actually, in terms of learning, we had a good week. It was more the organizational/logistical side of things that went awry. Let’s address the good stuff first, shall we? 
Bible and Devotions
We continued reading about the prophet Elijah. He went head-t0-head with the prophets of Baal this week, and then he fled from Queen Jezebel. We read a couple of devotionals from Leading Little Ones to God and continued learning the verses to the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy.” We pretty much have the first three verses down pat; we’re still working on verse four. Our memorization of Psalm 24 continued, as well; we’re up through verse seven now.
Reading
Lulu finished section ten and began working on section eleven in OPGTTR this week. These were her independent read-alouds:
- Harry Gets an Uncle
- The Deer in the Wood
(I thought this would be a winner due to the girls’ longstanding LHOTP obsession, and I was right!)
- Henry And Mudge And The Happy Cat
I know she read more than this; I’m pretty sure she finished a book a day during her mandatory ten minutes of quiet reading time prior to rest time, but I didn’t keep up with the titles. I’ve tentatively put out a copy of a Magic Tree House book, Mummies in the Morning , in hopes that Lulu’s interest in mummies and Egypt (thanks to our history studies!) would give her the incentive to delve into a chapter book on her own. I’m not pushing it, though–just offering, gently. I think this is something that can’t be rushed.
Louise completed two lessons in OPGTTR this week: lessons 34 and 35 (minus the game). She also enjoyed all of Lulu’s read-alouds!
Math
Lulu was introduced to writing equations this week in RightStart level B. She also began keeping her math journal for RightStart, which is something I’m glad is a part of this particular curriculum. (It’s something that I’ve always wanted to have her do, but not something I usually think of on my own.) As I mentioned last week, we began using Math Mammoth this week, too. 
History
We had something of a difficult time getting history done this week, for some reason. I only intended for us to cover one half of chapter four in SOTW 1–the “Making Mummies” portion of “The Old Kingdom of Egypt.” We finally got around to writing hieroglyphics from last week, but we didn’t finish making our scrolls. (Note to self: Buy whatever school materials we need on the weekends; if we don’t have the materials by Monday, we’re not likely to get them through the week!) We read a couple of supplemental books and began working on our Ancient Egypt history pocket (from History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations, Grades 1-3
Stay tuned to find out if I actually go through with my plan to mummify a chicken!
Science
Our animals of the week were the giraffe, the camel, and the deer, via Elemental Science Biology for the Grammar Stage. As usual, we read several supplemental books, and Lulu read aloud a few books related to our animal studies, as well. We completed our first “experiment” this week (not including the one we did a few weeks ago that didn’t work out). The idea behind this experiment is to figure out the importance of a camel’s large feet. We took a large cardboard disc and a small cardboard disc and determined which one was easier to push down into a bowl full of salt (to mimic sand).
I like to highlight any good books we read for our science studies, and this week, the camels won out. This book is a fiction title, but it is a fun read. What’s the Matter, Habibi?, written and illustrated by Betsy Lewin, is the story of a camel, Habibi, who gives rides to children to make a living for her master, who loves her and calls her “my darling.” One day, Habibi refuses to get up, and her master is unable to figure out why. It turns out that Habibi yearns to improve her appearance, and she steals her master’s shoes to make it happen. This one made me laugh!
We’re really enjoying this approach to science this year!
Language
More First Language Lessons and Writing With Ease. Lulu finished memorizing “The Caterpillar” several weeks ago, but we finally got a new memory piece in FLL: “Work.” We managed to complete three lessons in each of these books this week.
This is actually where Art should go, but this is also where “the Bad,” which I alluded to above, comes in. On Thursday, our usual art lesson day, Louise had a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon. This necessitated that I take Louise and the DLM out to my parents’ house, about fifteen miles in the opposite direction from the doctor’s office, and then get Louise over to the doctor. I also try to mix it up a little on Thursdays–for all intents and purposes, it’s Friday for us here at home (the girls’ homeschool group meetings will resume next Friday), so I try to add in a little bit of fun. After all, we’re homeschoolers, and we can do that, right? Right. I decided to bake cookies on Thursday, in addition to trying to accomplish most of what we usually do. Well, we did make the cookies, but it was not a good day. I do not handle stress well ( ), and I was a near-basket case all day, trying to get lots accomplished but still get out the door in time to make Louise’s appointment. This is also where “the Ugly” comes in–as in, my attitude and dealings with my girls. I don’t want to dwell on the bad here, especially since this is a record of our school year, but let’s just say that mama has a lot to learn about patience and letting things go. 
But like I said, we did bake cookies, and they were good. (We used this recipe from Alton Brown.)
Chocolate works wonders, doesn’t it? 
On Friday we had to take the DLM to the photography studio to have his 3 month picture taken, and after lunch out and a few errands, we came home to have rest time. The girls and I began working on our art lesson before we left this morning, and we finished it after we returned home and had rest-time. I’ll post what we drew for Sketch Tuesday next week.
The girls have enjoyed listening to The Cowgirl Aunt of Harriet Bean
I don’t usually mention Louise as much in our weekly report because since she’s not officially school-age yet, I often let her just play when she’s willing. I try not to push, but as a not-much-younger sibling, she’s all about keeping up with big sister. Louise did reach a milestone this week, though. She finished her last toddler/little kid music class and will begin class piano lessons next week! At Louise’s little mini-recital, Lulu tickled my mom because she brought in the book she was reading in the van on the way over so she could finish it. Mom said that this was just like me growing up, and I suspect it was just like Steady Eddie, too. We’re both bookworms from way back!
The DLM–well, he just keeps getting cuter and more engaging. This week he began making those cute little growly noises down in his throat. We’re all quite taken with him.
Well, it was a good week, despite my failings. I just need to work on the organizational and planning end of things–how much can we realistically do when we have afternoon appointments? Any ideas or advice?
I don’t want to end this week down in the dumps, so I’m going to end with a clip from one of my favorite t.v. shows. When we studied giraffes at the beginning of the week, this clip kept playing over and over and over in my mind. Enjoy!
(I’m linking this post to the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.)
Sep
Read Aloud Thursday
I’m usually not a fan of bright, bold, and graphic illustrations, especially when they look too modern (i.e. computer-generated, etc.). That’s just not my style. However, My Heart Is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall first caught my attention because we’re studying animals right now for science and we hope to make a trip to the zoo sometime this fall. Although this book is illustrated using digital artwork, it is deceptively simple. First of all, the entire text of the book is a long list of similes for the heart. The heart is compared to all kinds of animals–”my heart is [. . .] snappy as a crab [. . .] silly as a seal [. . .] quiet as a caterpillar wearing knitted socks [. . .]“ Although I don’t usually go in for too much touchy-feely business, I like this one. I think the comparisons can be good discussion starters, and some of them are just plain cute. (I love the caterpillar one!) Second, every illustration in this book is made up of hearts, both big and small. This makes it visually interesting, even if you’re not too much into similes. Inspiration struck when I first read this book to my girls, and I thought we should make our own heart illustrations. Ideally, this would make a great Valentine’s Day craft activity, but since I’m pretty forgetful, I decided to go ahead and do it now. I cut out hearts of different shapes and colors and let the girls go to work. Lulu ended up making heart people out of hers, but Louise did indeed turn hers into an animal–a butterfly.
Birds by Kevin Henkes (yes, that Kevin Henkes) is another graphic picture book, but the illustrations in this one appear to be handmade. The illustrator, Laura Dronzek, has the ability to draw very child-like, albeit almost perfect, illustrations. I love them! This is a very simple book that is simply about birds. It’s written from the point of view of a little girl and details her observations about her flying friends. This book makes me want to get out my drawing pencil and paints and go to work. This book would make a great introduction to a study of birds (especially for very young children), or it would make a great model for drawing birds. I give this one a Highly Recommended!
It’s all about bold and graphic here at Hope Is the Word today, anyway. Next week I can guarantee that it won’t be, so come back for the variety, if nothing else.
What books have you been enjoying this week as a family? Leave a link to your blog post below!
(I’m linking this post up to stART at A Mommy’s Adventures.)
Sep
Someone’s Having a Birthday!!!
And it’s not me!
It’s Carrie of Reading to Know fame! She’s celebrating this week with all sorts of giveaways, so go check it out!
Aug
To Kill a Mockingbird Challenge Wrap-Up
I’ve just about decided that hosting a challenges is a sure way to make sure that I don’t finish reading the book myself. Yes, I am still reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Between the Bible in 90 Days Challenge (which I am currently behind on), the huge amount of time I spend reading aloud to my girls and schooling them, and the addition of Wi-Fi here at home so that I am connected via my iPod Touch even while I’m nursing the DLM in his room, I am making very slow progress.
Of course, I read this novel the first time in the eighth grade and have read it several times since then. I am enjoying it this time through and have even noticed a few details that I had either never noticed before or had forgotten. For instance, I don’t remember paying attention to Scout’s observation that Atticus liked to be alone during church–that he usually sat in a different pew than she and Jem. I like that these little details all work together to create the character, and while I can see that Harper Lee’s writing might be considered unsophisticated by some, it is just this type of characterization that endears her characters to her readers. Fifty years in print must mean that she did something right!
You might have already guessed that Atticus is my favorite character. This is the first time I’ve read To Kill a Mockingbird since I became a parent six years ago, and I think that Atticus’ parenting style and skills are what I am noticing the most this time through. Of course, this is a much-lauded part of Atticus’ character (as a google search for “Atticus Finch parenting” will attest), but I’m finding his relationship with his children both instructive and poignant, all the same.
I get the biggest kick out of Scout’s distaste for school at the beginning of the story. I find it downright hilarious, actually.
The remainder of my schooldays were no more auspicious than the first. Indeed, they were an endless Project that slowly evolved into a Unit, in which miles of construction paper and wax crayon were expended by the State of Alabama in its well-meaning but fruitless efforts to teach me Group Dynamics. What Jem called the Dewey Decimal System was school-wide by the end of my first year, so I had no chance to compare it with other teaching techniques. I could only look around me: Atticus and my uncle, who went to school at home, knew everything–at least what one didn’t know the other did. Furthermore, I couldn’t help noticing that my father had served for years in the state legislature, elected each time without opposition, innocent of the adjustments my teachers thought essential to the development of Good Citizenship. Jem, educated on a half-Decimal half-Duncecap basis, seemed to function effectively alone or in a group, but Jem was a poor example: no tutorial system devised by man could have stopped him from getting at books. As for me, I knew nothing except what I gathered from Time magazine and reading everything I could lay hands on at home, but as I inched sluggishly along the treadmill of the Maycomb County school system, I could not help receiving the impression that I was being cheated out of something. Out of what I knew not, yet I did not believe that twelve years of unrelieved boredom was exactly what the state had in mind for me.
As a homeschool parent-teacher (and an Alabama public school teacher turned homeschool teacher at that!), of course I love this!
I had larger plans than just to read the novel, folks. I meant to read a book about the novel, and I did get started on it. However, the library wanted the book back before I had even scratched the surface of it enough to write a review. I tried to watch the movie this past Friday night, but I got a late start, we had trouble with the DVD, and I finally had to give up on it in order to get the DLM to sleep. Such is life with three small children! Just know that it truly is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I absolutely adore Gregory Peck as Atticus. In my mind, he is Atticus. I did remember after my initial TKM Challenge posts that last year I read a YA novel entitled In Search of Mockingbird that revolves around Harper Lee’s story. I’m not giving up on finishing the novel myself this time through, though. It’s just a slow process.
If you read the novel (or tried to! or almost did! or meant to!) or anything related to it or watched the movie, link up your blog post below. I’ll leave this linky open for a few days, just in case any of you need a little extra time.
Thanks for joining me, folks. I hope you enjoyed it!
Aug
Sketch Tuesday (on a Monday)::Zoo Dwellers
I’m posting the girls’ sketches for Sketch Tuesday today instead of tomorrow because tomorrow is the end of the To Kill a Mockingbird Reading Challenge, and I didn’t want to bury this post under that one. The prompt for this edition of Sketch Tuesday is sketch something that lives in the zoo. This fit perfectly with the anial studies we’ve been doing lately!
This is Lulu’s sketch:
And Louise’s:
Can you guess what these are?
Barb will have slideshow of all the entries up tomorrow at Harmony Art Mom.
Aug
Weekly Wrap-Up::August 23-27, 2010
Wow! I can’t believe we’ve completed our fourth week of school here at the House of Hope! While I can’t say we’ve really settled into a comfortable routine (as amy in peru commented on my Day in Our Life post, “. . .babies add variety. . .not even one day the same”), I can say with full assurance that no one here is bored. This is how the week went:
Bible and Devotions
We finally made it past King Solomon and into the murkier waters (if that’s possible!) of life in Israel and Judah under Rehoboam and Jeroboam. A bonus for me was that I finally managed to get these two straight in my mind! We quickly moved past these two and into more familiar territory: the story of Elijah the Prophet. The girls really enjoy hearing familiar stories again, so this is good. I had a moment of inspiration last weekend and decided that one week per hymn from Hymns for a Kid’s Heart is simply not long enough. We doubled back this week and began learning the words to the other verses of “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Lulu surprised me this week by showing me up in our memorization and recitation of Psalm 24–she had been reading the Psalm I had posted on our bulletin board in the school room and memorizing it on the sly! I love that she’s (finally!) excited about hiding God’s Word in her heart, even if it is to show up mommy! We’re working on verse five now, so we’re about half way to the end of the Psalm.
Reading
As much as I love to read, I’m actually finding the teaching of reading to be rather ho-hum. I’m coming to view this as basic training for life–something that is a means to an end, not the end. Lulu is at the point where she can read just about anything she picks up, but we’re still plodding along through the OPGTTR. We’re to the point where phonics rules begin to get tricky to me–variable spellings for the long vowel sounds, etc. She’s doing well with it, though. These are the books that Lulu read aloud independently this week:
- Benny’s New Friend
- Ty in the Sky from Now I’m Reading: On the Go!-Level 3 New Sounds and Blends
- Henry and Mudge and the Great Grandpas (a book which forced me to define the word skivvies for my girls )
Fancy Nancy: The Show Must Go On
I’m learning that there’s a vast range of skill levels, even among books commonly marked as level two readers. As you can tell, these books are somewhat self-selected. What I usually do is pick up a small stack of these readers that appear to be approximately on Lulu’s level when we go to the library and allow her to choose one a day. Sometimes she picks something out of our reading basket, but she usually chooses a library book for variety.
After last week’s epiphany regarding Louise’s reading skill level, Steady Eddie and I went out last weekend and purchased a new set of readers for Louise. 
- The Hot Yak
- The Big Cub
- The Fox Begs
Yay for Louise!
We ended the week on Thursday with a rousing game of Reading Bingo.
Math
I’m finally convinced, after 2,347 hands of Go to the Dump, that Lulu knows how to partition ten by memory and understanding. RightStart Math is a perfect fit for Lulu! After reading this thread, though, I’m sort of antsy to add another program on alternating days. In fact, that was our original plan this year–to use MEP and RightStart. I chickened out, though, because I just couldn’t anticipate how our days were going to go since we were adding an infant into the mix. Now I see that it really wouldn’t be doing more in our day–it would just be adding something to our year. I’m thinking that I might like to try out Math Mammoth with RightStart. I reviewed Math Mammoth last year, and I’ve read really great things about it from people who have actually used it. Since I already own the Blue Series, I thought we’d give it a try. Stay tuned!
History
We learned about the first writing this week in history. We didn’t read any supplemental books or do anything outside of the Story of the World Activity Guide. The girls are still really enjoying the maps. We did make necklaces with Sumerian cuneiform inscriptions. The girls really loved this! We used Sculpey, and even after baking it for about 45 minutes, it never hardened. I wonder if this is how it’s supposed to be, or if maybe our clay is too old or something. Hmmm. Any ideas?
The girls were so excited about their new accessories that they wore them to church Wednesday night. :-)
I had planned to make scrolls with Egyptian hieroglyphics, but my sister and nephews stopped by yesterday after school. My older nephew broke his ankle at school yesterday and had just gotten a cast put on it. Apparently, older cousins and casts are exciting enough to make my girls forget their history art project. They didn’t mention it the rest of the day, so we’ll probably just put it off until next week.
Science
I feel like science was rather ho-hum this week, too. I didn’t have a good chance to hunt down all the good resources I know our library must have on zebras, hippos, and foxes, so we didn’t have as many supplemental books to read. Still, Lulu completed narrations on all three animals and Louise did two, all based on what we read from the Kingfisher Encyclopedia and anything supplemental we read. 
Language
There’s not much to note here, other than the fact that a.) Lulu can definitely recite the definition of a noun at this point and b.) she was tickled to be able to tell me more about Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland than the short pieces I read from Writing With Ease for narration contained.
Handwriting
Lulu has ditched the workbooks in favor of her copywork, narration, and book lists. We’ll pull them out if I see that she’s really having trouble with something (like numbers–we worked on those last week), but otherwise, we’ll call it good. Louise is still occasionally working in her workbook, and at four years old, she still has a ways to go in motor skills to have this mastered.
Art
Honest confession: I look forward to our art lessons on Thursday afternoons as much as I look forward to sharing my favorite read-alouds with my girls. We’re still in the preparation/warm up phase of Drawing with Children; we haven’t even made it to lesson one proper yet. There’s something about doing this on Thursday afternoons that I find relaxing and inspiring, and I think the girls do, too. I don’t know what it is–maybe because Fridays are our errand/library/homeschool group meeting days, so Thursdays are sort of like Fridays to me, so I’m already a little more relaxed. Anyway, I love doing this! These were our warm-up exercises from yesterday:
I also had the girls draw a zoo animal for Sketch Tuesday at Harmony Art Mom, but I’ll wait until Tuesday to post those.
I’m really enjoying our lifestyle. Sure, I get stressed out sometimes, but overall, I feel like I’ve been given grace to handle this better than I ever could in my own impatient, perfectionistic flesh. (Not that I’m perfect by any means–far from it!) I love that the girls get to spend their days with me and the DLM. I love that they listen to excellent literature for a couple of hours every day. (This week they finally got tired of Heidi in audio and picked up The Cricket in Times Square. Lulu just announced last night that the cricket in the story played “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” which is one of the hymns we’ve been working on! We are still enjoying Ginger Pye as our chapter book read aloud.) Yesterday when we got the phone call that my nephew had broken his ankle, we were able to stop immediately and pray for him. Then, Louise immediately made him a get well card. I love that because we’re together, the girls get to learn how to respond to such crises. I still have my moments of homeschool angst, but I’m really happy with where we are right now as a family.
Thank you, Lord!
(For more Week Wrap-Up posts, head over to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.)
Tags: Biology for the Grammar Stage, Elemental Science, Story of the World
Aug
Read Aloud Thursday
I admit that while I love a good book of any kind, I’m not always great at turning books into projects. I’m mostly okay with that; to me, the real joy is in the reading of the story. However, some books just beg for an activity afterwards, either because they have one built in or because they inspire the reader to create their own.
Fannie in the Kitchen is the story of Fannie Farmer, the first person (a woman, at that) to include accurate measurements in recipes in her cookbook entitled Boston Cooking School Cookbook. She is known as the “mother of the modern recipe” for just this. Fannie in the Kitchen is about Fannie’s career as a mother’s helper in a Boston household in the late 1800s. Fannie teaches Marcia, a young girl in the family for whom she works, how to measure dry ingredients accurately, how to tell if an egg is fresh, and how to choose a ripe watermelon. At the end of the story, Marcia bakes Fannie the perfect going-away cake in celebration of Fannie’s employment as a teacher at the Boston Cooking School. Of course, without Fannie’s careful instruction, the cake would not have turned out quite as well. This picture book is divided into short “chapters” entitled “First Course,” “Second Course,” etc. Fannie Farmer’s original “helpful hints” are also incorporated into the illustrations, usually as pictures framed and hanging on the wall. Cute!
Honestly, what makes this book special is the illustrations. Nancy Carpenter’s pen and ink drawings capture the essence of the time period, from the hairstyles to the labels on the bags, bottles, and cans of food used in the recipes. According to the CIP data in the front of the book, “The illustrations are rendered in pen and ink, collaged with 19th century engravings on the computer, laser printed, Xeroxed onto watercolor paper, and then watercolored.” Whew! And I thoughts artists just drew and painted! The illustrations remind me of the artwork on the opening credits of the television program Cheers. (I even looked this up on YouTube so you can see for yourself what I mean, if you’re so inclined. Link here.)
We’ve actually enjoyed at least one of Deborah Hopkinson’s books in the past. We loved Apples to Oregon ! It turns out that Nancy Carpenter also illustrated this one of Hopkinson’s books. For more about Deborah Hopkinson and her works, visit her website.
As I mentioned earlier, Fannie in the Kitchen even inspired our family’s supper on Monday night! We had already planned to have what is probably the girls’ favorite supper–breakfast for supper–but after reading this book we decided to call our pancakes griddlecakes and follow Fannie’s recipe! (We did modify it a little and use half whole wheat flour, half all purpose flour.) Fannie’s advice served us well–flipping our griddlecakes ”when puffed, full of bubbles, and cooked on edges” yielded excellent results!
What have you and yours been enjoying together this week? Leave a link to your blog post below, or simply leave a comment.
Have a yummy Read Aloud Thursday!
Aug
A Day in Our Life::Monday, August 23, 2010
I decided to document a day in our homeschooling life for the Not Back-to-School Blog Hop over at Heart of the Matter Online–it’s Day-in-the-Life week this week. This is our fourth week of schooling, so we’ve settled into the way we’ll do things for a while–at least until the DLM throws us another curveball. I’ve always loved reading “A Day in the Life” posts. I remember before I was an official homeschooler I’d read such posts and try to imagine life in our house once we began homeschooling. So here it is–the good, the bad, and the stinky. {To acquaint yourself with our curricular choices, go here. Please excuse the constant shifting of tenses in this piece. I have written this piece-meal over a period of two days, and I’m tired of fooling with it! }
As much as I’d love to, we don’t really have a daily schedule. I’m more of a routine kind of gal anyway, but with a young baby (the DLM will be 3 months old next week!! How did he get this old?!?!?) in the house, a real schedule is more likely to cause me all sorts of stress than to alleviate any. I say that with a little bit of embarrassment because I really am a “cover all the bases” kind of gal, too, but at this point in my life I don’t need anything to add stress to my day-to-day goings on!
I don’t know about you, but my day begins the night before. That’s sort of a cliche, but it’s a true one for me–especially since I know I’ll be up at least once during the night with the DLM. I have to go to bed with things somewhat in order, or the next day will not begin well. Sunday night, I went to bed around 11 p.m. because I was catching up on my reading for the Bible in 90 Days challenge. I always mean to get in bed earlier, but it almost never happens.
1:30 a.m.- 2:00 a.m.–Up with the DLM–Steady Eddie also got up and changed the DLM’s diaper
5:30 a.m.-6:10 a.m.–Up with the DLM–Steady Eddie tried unsuccessfully to get him back to sleep before I got up
6:45–I’ve ignored the alarm clock several times now when Lulu joins me in my bed. Steady Eddie left for work about 45 minutes ago.
7:30–I finally get up to shower.
7:50-8:10–Quick peek online to link up to blog challenges, etc.
8:10-8:30–Start a load of laundry and begin breakfast preparations. Louise makes her appearance just before breakfast.
While I was making and we were eating breakfat (frozen pancakes, juice or chocolate milk for the girls; cereal for me), we discussed
- how to spell a word with an r-controlled vowel
- the days of the week (“Is this Friday?” queried Louise, which prompted a run-through of the days of the week)
- the meaning of the word procedure
- and a cicada coming out of its shell, thanks to a reader-submitted photo in our local paper
- Psalm 24, our memory passage. It appears that Lulu has been studying it on the sly. She knows more of it than I know now!
Louise also announced, “I wish we had a big, big house and a trumpet and you blew it to wake everyone up. Even the servants up!”
Who needs fancy-schmancy bulletin boards with things like word walls and calendars–we have the breakfast table! (A few servants would be nice, though.)
8:55-9:30–The DLM woke up, and I quickly learned that he had had a major “blow out” in his diaper. This necessitated a bath, which would NOT have been on the schedule, if I had one. For the next thirty minutes, I
- bathed the DLM
- redirected the girls to complete their chores of wiping down the kitchen table and chairs and sweeping the kitchen floor
- changed the DLM’s sheets
- switched out laundry and put the DLM’s sheets in the washer
- took out the trash
9:30-10:20–The girls brush their teeth and we settle down in the nursery where I can rock and nurse the DLM while I read to the girls. We did our morning devotional reading, some fun read-alouds, and some science reading. By this time, the DLM was asleep, so I laid him down so we could get on with our school day. (Come back on Thursday for Read Aloud Thursday and Friday for our Weekly Wrap-Up to find out more about what we read!)
10:20-10:30–Lulu began piano practice, but by the time she got down to business, the DLM was awake again.
10:30-10:45–I picked up the DLM and put him in his swing. This lasted for about five minutes, which is four minutes longer than it usually lasts. Meanwhile, I also listened to and assisted with Lulu’s piano practice, switched out laundry, and put a mattress cover back on the DLM’s bed. During this time, Louise was likely playing with her ball in the same room that everything else was going on. (I usually discourage rowdy play in the house, but the girls have been cooped up for so long because it has been such a hot summer that I’ve really relaxed my standards as to what is appropriate indoors.)
10:45–I actually took a bathroom break (I only note this because I often find during the day that it has been a looong time since I’ve actually taken one of these!) and we all headed to our school room to continue our lessons.
10:50–I did a phonics lesson with Lulu while Louise opted to write a story. The DLM was in his bouncy seat, content for the moment.
11:00–By this time, the DLM was in my lap. Lulu read us a story aloud. The DLM had another exploding diaper, so we had to take a brief intermission in the story so I could change his diaper and his clothes. I did this quickly and returned to the schoolroom, stopping by the laundry room to drop off his poopy onesie. I’ve learned to pre-treat. By this time, it was 11:06.
11:20–The DLM was getting fussy, so I knew he was ready to take a real nap. I put sheets on his bed and retired to the rocker in his nursery. The girls joined me in there. I rocked and nursed the DLM while I read our current chapter book read-aloud, Ginger Pye, to the girls.
11:45–I laid down a (finally!) soundly sleeping DLM and headed to the kitchen for lunch preparations.
11:45-12:45–Lunch preparations and lunch. The girls take a little break during this time. They’re free to do just about anything, as long as they steer clear of the kitchen while I’m getting things together. I had Texas caviar (see above) and tortilla chips. The girls had cheese quesadillas, pinto beans (homemade, from the freezer!), 1/2 a fresh peach, and some grapes. Steady Eddie also showed up for lunch at home, but he had to eat and run. He made himself a PB & J sandwich.
We even have lunch trays like they have in "real school"!
12:45-1:03–We all sat on the couch in the living room and Louise read aloud to us. We then returned to the school room where I taught Louise a phonics lesson. While Louise worked on phonics, Lulu wrote the title of the book she read earlier in her reading log and read silently.
1:03-1:15–Louise wrote her book in her reading log and read silently while I taught Lulu her language and writing lessons.
1:15-1:19–Louise worked on her handwriting. I’m not sure what Lulu did at this time.
1:19-1:40–Lulu and I did a math review lesson together while Louise built towers out of Wedgits. After this, we all played Go to the Dump together.
1:40–I read this week’s chapter from Story of the World for our history lesson. While I read, the girls colored a picture from the activity guide. Lulu did her first narration for history.
2:00–The girls went to their room for ten minutes of silent reading. I browsed online during this time.
2:10-3:10-–The girls listened to an audiobook and played quietly in their room. I think today’s selection was Heidi. I had good intentions of reading my Bible during this time, but the DLM woke up right around 2:20. He was somewhat fussy, so I rocked him and surfed the ‘net on my I-Pod. (This is another reason why I can’t stay caught up on my Bible reading or finish reading To Kill a Mockingbird for my own challenge! Too much internet capability in my home and too little self-discipline!)
This is a hint. Come back on Thursday to find out what book we read that inspired this meal!
After this, things are a blur. Steady Eddie got home around 4:00, I think. Before then, the girls had had a snack and we had walked a mile with Leslie Sansone. I spent a good deal of time with the DLM in the rocking chair. I cooked supper, which was inspired by one of our read-alouds from earlier during the day, while Steady Eddie helped refereed the girls and the DLM. After supper, I rocked and fed the DLM again, prepped Tuesday’s supper, distributed a 25 pound sack of whole wheat flour into gallon bags for the freezer, worked on my blog, folded laundry, went for a walk (all by myself!), and I think we even managed to get in another mile with Leslie Sansone somewhere in there. Maybe. Oh, and I fed the DLM again and rocked him to sleep. After doing a little prep work for the next day’s lessons, I went to bed and caught up on my Bible reading.
Believe it or not, we accomplished everything on my lesson plan except for a little science experiment. Most days are really not quite this chaotic, but again, it all depends on how things go with the DLM. This is simply the reality of homeschooling with an infant, and I’ve learned I’m learning to roll with it. I figure this is but a foretaste of what it will be like when he’s a toddler! There are a lot of things that I’d like to do better, but for this season of our family’s life, I think we’re doing well. Thank you, Lord, for helping me to realize this!
For more Day-in-the-Life posts, visit the Not Back-to-School Blog Hop at Heart of the Matter Online.
Aug
A Caldecott Celebration by Leonard S. Marcus
I really enjoyed reading this book for a few reasons: I love getting a peek into an artist’s life and way of thinking. This book contains sketches and work-in-progress examples of the various artists’ illustrations for their respective award winning books. It also provides insight into the printing process. For example, Marcia Brown, who won the Caldecott in 1955 for Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper, mixed the ink herself to achieve the various colors used in her book since illustrations of the day were done using no more than four colors of ink. I also enjoyed learning about how winning the Caldecott changed their lives. Often, it was the success they experienced after winning this prestigious award that ensured their financial stability later. I learned that it was the financial freedom that Make Way for Ducklings earned Robert McCloskey that enabled him, his wife, and their daughter to move to an island off the Maine coast, which, of course, led to his later writing and illustrating such works as Blueberries for Sal, One Morning in Maine, etc. (To read how much I love Robert McCloskey’s works, go here.) Likewise, winning the Caldecott gave Marcia Brown the financial freedom to tour Europe for a year and “[take] in her beautiful surroundings.”
I know next to nothing about art myself, but I want to learn. I have no idea if art itself is lucrative nowadays. I understand how the Caldecott Medal (and other awards, I’m sure) is sort of a ticket to monetary success that enables this artists to pursue their dreams. To think that if McCloskey hadn’t won the award, he might never have created his later stories brings tears to my eyes. I want my children to find value in this sort of experience themselves (that of creating art, not necessarily making money from it). I want our home education experience to foster this, but I’m not exactly sure how. I’m working on it by having art lessons on Thursday afternoons. At least this is a start.
A Caldecott Celebration is written in a style that would make it perfect for a read-aloud. While it doesn’t “talk down” to its readers, it would definitely be accessible to all but the very youngest. (I would have no hesitation sharing it with my six and four year olds, but I just haven’t had the opportunity. Yet. ) If you’re interested in art or children’s books at all, you would no doubt enjoy this book.
(I have reviewed countless Caldecott Medal and honor books here at Hope Is the Word. My categories got a little messed up when I switched over to this self-hosted blog, but this link should pull up most of my reviews.)
Aug
The Week in Words
It has been too long since I’ve participated in The Week in Words at Stray Thoughts, so I thought I’d jump back in this week. I’m still reading To Kill a Mockingbird for my own To Kill a Mockingbird Reading Challenge. I find this book immensely quotable, but I ran across a quote in the book the other day that I didn’t remember. I like it, so I’m sharing it here. It comes compliments of Miss Maudie, a very wise woman:
“People in their right minds never take pride in their talents.”
Miss Maudie shares this with Jem and Scout after the “One Shot” Finch episode.
Humility is a virtue that we can grasp only when we know from whence all our blessings come, right?
